Attorney: Detroit Casino Cop ‘Beat My Client Mercilessly’

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DETROIT (WWJ) – A second civil suit claiming physical abuse by officers assigned to a Detroit casino has been filed against the city and its police department.

A 34-year-old man claims he suffered broken ribs and other injuries after two officers choked him with a nightstick in January at the MGM Grand Detroit casino.

Lawyer Jonathan Marko says his client, 34-year old DaJuan Moncrief, was being escorted out of the casino when one officer put him in a choke hold.

“Then the other officer just starts going berserk with his baton and just starts beating my client mercilessly. It really reminded me of something like the Rodney King beating,” said Marko. “I mean, he was just going at my client.”

Marko talked to WWJ about what allegedly happened next.

“They threw him in a jail cell with his broken ribs and he’s complaining the whole time, you know, ‘There’s something wrong with me. I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe’,” Marko said.

Marko claims the attack on his client was also captured on video. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court, says Moncrief was jailed, but charges later were dropped.

Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee said they are in the process of reviewing the case.

“Was the force appropriate and, number two, was it within policy. And then we have to access, based on the totality of the circumstaces, was the forces excessive or not,” Godbee told WWJ Newsradio 950’s Marie Osborne.

“Force is nothing new to policiing. There are levels or forece, and how we categorize it, how we capture it,” said Godbee.

Godbee said that the simple fact that someone has filed a lawsuit does not mean the officers acted inappropriatly.